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Certifying Your Therapy Dog

Before preparing to do therapy work with your Shih Tzu, be sure he is suited to it. Everyone assumes that a therapy dog should be obedient and well trained. But he should also be calm, love to interact with people, and be willing to tolerate occasional physical discomfort and mental stress.

If so, your first step should be to teach your dog basic obedience commands, or enroll in an obedience class. You should also check with the various organizations that certify therapy dogs so you know what they will require your dog to do. A list of AKC-approved national, regional, and local therapy dog registration/certification organizations and links that enable you to contact them directly can be found at http://www.akc.org/events/title-recognition-program/therapy/organizations/

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The members of the American Shih Tzu Club welcome you to the wonderful world of Shih Tzu! Nothing is more important to us than the welfare and perpetuation of these remarkable companions. Generations of breeders in the United States have sacrificed their time and energy to preserve and improve this uniquely lovable breed. It is our goal to continue this legacy by providing as much information and education as possible to ensure that purebred Shih Tzu and their owners will always be held in the highest esteem by all who encounter them.